Is Fiskville the tip of an iceberg? PFAS detected across Victoria

There are at least 16 sites in Victoria, aside from the notorious Fiskville CFA training college, and 90 Australia-wide where elevated levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl chemicals – known as PFAS – have been detected, a Fairfax Media investigation has found.

The mothballed Fiskville academy, 95 kilometres west of Melbourne, is so far the most widespread case of PFAS exposure in Victoria.

Beyond Fiskville, locations including other CFA training areas, Defence bases, airports and corporate sites have been investigated over concerns about the effects of PFAS contamination on nearby residents, water sources, agriculture, livestock and other animals.

PFAS has spread beyond the boundaries of at least five Victorian sites – including Melbourne Airport, Esso Longford and the East Sale RAAF base in Gippsland, and CFA training sites in Penshurst and Wangaratta.

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PFAS has also been confirmed at Essendon and Moorabbin airports and at a third location, near housing at the RAAF Laverton base, which will be assessed for the chemicals.

The Age can reveal people left seriously ill after exposure to toxic chemicals at the CFA's former Fiskville training college are yet to receive financial help, two years after the state government promised compensation.

The government committed to a redress scheme in May 2016, after a parliamentary inquiry found CFA management had allowed its members and their families to be exposed to toxic chemicals with known links to cancer and other illnesses.

What is PFAS?

Australia is one of only a handful of countries that has failed to ban the chemicals. The federal government is defending multiple class actions from towns where contamination has occurred.

The Department of Health maintains there is no consistent evidence the toxins cause “important” health effects, in contrast to the US EPA, which has concluded they are a human health hazard that – at high enough levels – can cause immune dysfunction, hormonal interference and certain types of cancer in humans.

Man-made PFAS chemicals have been described as “virtually indestructible” in the environment and repel grease, oil and water. They were manufactured by Fortune 500 company 3M for half a century, with the two best-known of the family called perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

PFOS was the key ingredient in 3M’s popular fabric protector Scotchguard, and was used widely in firefighting foams, food packaging and metal plating.

By the time 3M made the surprise announcement it would voluntarily exit the PFAS business in 2000, PFOS had contaminated the blood of more than 95 per cent of the human population along with wildlife in remote corners of the globe.

Due to their long biological half-life, the chemicals take years to exit the body, but average levels in the blood of Australians plummeted about 56 per cent in the decade following the phase-out announcement.

The chemicals still pose a threat in Australia today, mainly because of their use in Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), a fire retardant manufactured by 3M and used by the military, commercial airports, fire brigades and heavy industry for decades.

Fiskville failings

The former Fiskville academy, 95 kilometres west of Melbourne, is so far the most widespread case of PFAS exposure in Victoria.

Up to 87,000 people are believed to have been put at risk of exposure to the carcinogens there over 30 years.

The CFA's Fiskville training college west of Melbourne was shut down in 2015. It has since had an $80 million clean-upCredit:Luis Ascui

A 2015 Monash University study of 606 people who worked at the site between 1971 and 1999 identified 69 cancer cases that resulted in 16 deaths.

The findings delivered in the May 2016 final report of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into Fiskville were damning. CFA management had allowed its members at Fiskville and their families to be exposed to toxic chemicals with known links to cancer and other illnesses, it found.

The CFA had known about the possible health risks since the 1990s, the inquiry heard, but did not notify staff and volunteers past and present. That only came to light in 2011, in an expose in the Herald Sun.

The inquiry made a number of recommendations, including a redress scheme.

In May 2017, while announcing legislation giving firefighters who get cancer because of their job a presumptive right to compensation, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said: "We will make further announcements about a proper redress scheme for those who were for too long lied to.

"It's their families we now deal with because they themselves are no longer with us anymore."

Yet 12 months after he made those comments, and two years since his government agreed to compensate those affected, no scheme has been announced.

In response to questions from Fairfax Media, the state government said it was "continuing to examine redress scheme options". When pressed it gave no indication of when a compensation package would be finalised.

"Our focus has always been with those affected by their time spent at Fiskville," a spokeswoman said. "We acted swiftly to close the site in 2015, and we are acting on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Inquiry."

In its response to the inquiry, the government acknowledged that many people had concerns about how their time at Fiskville may have affected them.

It gave in-principle support to establishing a redress scheme, subject to consideration of who would be eligible, how it would affect their legal rights or other forms of compensation and how it should be resourced.

"The government is in the process of examining these issues," a spokeswoman said.

The state government has committed to a redress scheme for those who have fallen ill or died after being exposed to toxic chemicals at the former Fiskville CFA training college.Credit:Luis Ascui

A class action has been on ice since the government committed to compensation. Some applicants have been told to expect an announcement on compensation within months.

The family of one former Fiskville employee Brian Potter received a state government payout last year. Mr Potter, a former CFA chief officer who helped expose the Fiskville scandal, died in 2014 after losing a workers' compensation bid.

Other CFA sites

Half of the Victorian locations where PFAS has been found are CFA sites. In addition to Fiskville, its training grounds at Craigieburn, Bangholme, Fulham, Huntly, Longerenong, Penshurst and Wangaratta have been affected.

Victoria's Environment Protection Authority issued clean-up notices for six of those sites and continues to monitor them. Tests on water supplies have found they are safe to drink.

However, testing of groundwater has shown several nearby bores are contaminated with PFAS. "CFA and EPA are working with landowners to ensure any potential risks are known and managed," the EPA said.

"CFA and the auditor have provided full briefings to neighbours, representatives from the community and key agencies such as local water corporations and the Department of Health and Human Services."

An environmental audit last year found PFAS levels above drinking water guidelines at Murdum Creek, 6.5 kilometres from the CFA site, were likely to be from the training facility.

The auditor said the southern portion of one nearby property should not be used for livestock and crop production, and livestock production should be banned on all of another farm.

Low levels of PFAS were detected at a disused bore near the Wangaratta site.

"CFA is continuing to provide support, information and resources around the impacts to health and the environment PFAS could potentially have on local communities near our ... training centres," a CFA spokesman said in a statement to Fairfax Media.

"Planned works are informed by independent environmental consultants, monitored by the EPA and scoped out in collaboration with government authorities, local councils, community stakeholders, member representatives, and other emergency service organisations.

"CFA has now completed the decommissioning of the former Fiskville Training College and planning for rehabilitation works is well underway to return the site to beneficial use in line with EPA Notices."

Fiskville farmer Neville Callow pictured in 2015 on his farm, next door to the former CFA training college. He has since reached a settlement with the CFA, which has bought his farm.Credit:Jason South

Mr Callow, who farmed sheep and cattle on his property for around 13 years, said he and his daughter were on a health surveillance program and received blood tests every six months.

"It's a pity," he said. "I didn't want to move, it's a lovely spot. But life moves on. I'll just have to go and retire somewhere."

Airports affected

Air Services Australia, a government-owned corporation responsible for aviation services including firefighting, is investigating after PFAS was confirmed at fire stations and fire training grounds at Melbourne and Avalon airports.

"Airservices Australia is currently undertaking a national program of work to better understand the impacts of PFAS," a spokeswoman told Fairfax Media on Friday.

"We began phasing out foams containing PFAS in the early 2000s and have not used firefighting foam containing PFAS since 2010 at any of our civilian airport operations, including at Avalon and Melbourne Airports."

It recently completed a preliminary investigation at Melbourne Airport and expects to release a report in several months.

"We are working with relevant organisations including Melbourne Airport, the Commonwealth Airport Regulator and state government agencies to determine an appropriate management plan," the spokeswoman said.

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"At Avalon Airport, we have commenced a PSI and expect to finalise this by the end of 2018."

In recent weeks Melbourne Airport confirmed to the ABC that PFAS contamination had spread beyond the airport boundaries. The airport sits between two waterways: Maribyrnong River and Moonee Ponds Creek.

Melbourne Airport Authority (MAA) was in the process of notifying neighbouring landholders of the contamination, airport spokesman Grant Smith told the broadcaster.

It believed the health risk posed by the contamination to landholders downstream was low, but as a precaution it would ask neighbours whether they used surface water from waterways that flow through their properties, Mr Smith told the ABC.

A Melbourne Airport spokeswoman told Fairfax Media it had no further comment on the matter.

Fairfax Media has also learnt of PFAS detected at airports in the Melbourne suburbs of Essendon and Moorabbin. The chemicals had been found at both sites, which are owned by the government and leased out, according to a Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development submission to a Senate inquiry into PFAS contamination.

"The department ... as the regulator for federal leased airports, has become aware of the potential impacts of current and legacy [PFAS]" at the two airports, among 20 nationally, the submission says.

An Essendon Airport representative told a community consultation meeting in March 2017 that PFAS had been detected.

"Essendon Airport has detected PFAS contamination near the former fire training groundwhich was occupied by Airservices Australia until the early 1990s," the minutes state. "The maximum PFOS soil concentration identified is well below the interim screeninglevel for direct contact (industrial) of 90 mg/kg."

Airport management hired an environmental consultant to do more detailed sampling in July 2017. It has yet to report back to the committee with the results.

An Essendon Airport spokesman said investigations were ongoing and it would keep the community informed. "Our key priority is tackling the challenge of stopping any identified pollution from leaving the airport through surface run-off or ground water.” Much of the airport's perimeter is close to Moonee Ponds Creek.

Fairfax Media was unable to reach Moorabbin Airport for comment before deadline.

Defence bases

PFAS have been found at Defence Department sites including Royal Australia Navy base HMAS Cerberus on the Mornington Peninsula, RAAF Base Williams at Point Cook in Melbourne's west, Bandiana Military Area in Wodonga, and RAAF Base East Sale in Gippsland.

In May the federal government announced a new Parliamentary inquiry examining its handling of PFAS contamination in and around Defence bases. Submissions can be made to the committee, chaired by Liberal MP Andrew Laming, until July 6.

It said it had conducted no PFAS testing at Point Cook, but confirmed remedial works had been completed previously. The site was remediated a few years before Defence made PFAS contamination public. It is unclear what levels of PFAS were on or off the site at the time.

The EPA said Defence would assess the nearby Laverton RAAF base, which has some housing. "DoD has appointed a land consultant and an environmental auditor and will soon commence assessment works at the site."

Preliminary sampling at Cerberus and Bandiana have shown contamination exceeding drinking water guidelines. Further investigations are under way.

Defence has held two investigations at East Sale base since 2016. A third probe, a human health and ecological risk assessment, is due to be completed this year.

The site is in an environmentally sensitive area, close to the Gippsland Lakes – a wetlands site of international significance – and Heart Morass wetlands. Drainage from the site leads to these areas.

Most surrounding land is farm zoned and used for dairy farming, cattle grazing and as rural residential areas. Beyond the base, there is a risk of contamination from incidental contact with shallow groundwater, consumption of livestock, fish, dairy products and ducks.

At a community information session in February, attendees were told testing revealed contamination of surface water at the plant, and higher than normal levels in surface and ground water, as well as in soil samples around the plant.

Esso has committed to a two-year independent audit, as ordered by the EPA.

Some dams on Esso property, and some in neighbouring farms, were fenced off as a “precautionary measure” to protect livestock. Posters at the drop-in session showed 26 out of 61 sampled dams on Esso land had been fenced, as were nine out of 75 dams on non-Esso land.

“We’ve had some precautionary notifications to livestock owners within our boundaries, precautionary blood sampling, and as far as water, no issues with drinking water,” Longford plants manager David Anderson told the Times.

Market gardeners in the vicinity are believed to be among nearby landowners affected.

However, when Fairfax Media called Covino Farms, a grower bordering the Esso land, it was adamant it was not affected. “We don’t have any PFAS contamination”, a woman who answered said.

Esso parent company Exxon Mobil said it had developed a clean-up plan for the area surrounding its Longford gas plants, which the EPA had accepted.

"Our sampling and analysis program continues and, consistent with the information Esso provided to the local community at recent forums, we continue to observe decreasing levels of PFAS as we move away from the facility," a spokesman said.

"We are working with our neighbours on a one to one basis to support them where necessary. Each neighbour is being assessed individually."